Dear Mr. Trump: You Won’t Get My Special Needs Daughter’s Vote

I watched the CNN news clip of your recent Presidential campaign stop where you imitated the way you thought New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski would react if questioned regarding a previous story he’d written. Mr. Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a congenital joint condition that limits the flexibility in his arms. As soon as I saw the way you bent your hands and moved your arms as you attempted to demonstrate his supposed response, my mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe you mocked a person with a physical disability.

You see, this imitation hit home pretty hard for me. Although my daughter, Lindsey, (35) has some developmental delays, she is high functioning. She lives on her own, works a part-time job, and walks all around our small town. Her most obvious disability is her benign essential tremors. She’s had them ever since she suffered a grand mal seizure when she was sixteen-months-old. These tremors can cause her upper body, head, and arms to tremble like a Parkinson’s patient —although Parkinson’s has never been her diagnosis.

Her shaking has drawn a lot of attention and questions from strangers over the years. There are times when her movements resemble the movements you made on stage. When she was young, some kids (we called them bullies) teased her and imitated her shaking—just like you attempted to imitate Mr. Kovaleski’s condition. You may have exaggerated his movements, but you actually captured several of my daughter’s. And until yesterday, I’ve never known an adult to mimic my girl’s disability in the way you attempted to mimic the journalists.

From past news clips, Mr. Trump, I know you don’t try to be politically correct. I know you don’t even try to protect another person’s feelings from hurt. But I’m at a loss as to why, being the intelligent human being you profess to be, that you can’t seem to understand that individuals with disabilities struggle more and work harder to do the things that may come easy for you, for me, or for anyone without a recognized physical handicap.

Mr. Kovaleski is evidently a competent journalist (although you appear to disagree with this issue). In addition to the New York Times, he’s reported for The Washington Post and has received a Pulitzer Prize for his work. Yet you loutishly attempted to distract from his journalistic endeavors by making fun of his disability, as if his inability to adequately control his limbs translates to him being unable to create a decent and accurate article.

Lindsey (2015)

When I showed the news clip to my daughter, I watched her reaction. As soon as she saw you begin to mimic Mr. Kovaleski’s perceived awkward movements, she turned her entire body away from the screen.

“That’s wrong, Mom!” she said. “No one should make fun of people like that.” Then she went on to tell me it hurts when strangers bring attention to her tremors. She worried about the man you were impersonating. “I can’t help it. I try to do the best I can, but I can’t control the shaking. Maybe he can’t either.”

She refused to watch the rest of your news clip. “Why would he do something like that?” she asked. “He’s a grown man.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Lindsey,” I said. “I just don’t know.” I explained you are running for President of the United States and are on the campaign trail trying to win over votes.

“Well, not my vote,” she said. “He can’t have mine.”

So Mr. Trump, I’m sure you will use one of the excuses you’ve always used when you’ve opened your mouth without thinking and said or done something so outrageous certain segments of our society recoil.

Once again, it feels as if you are the bully on the playground. But in my world, my opinion doesn’t matter as much as my daughter’s. She is the one with a noticeable tremor, a genuine disability. And she says you were out of line.

Fortunately, from what we’ve read on the internet, it looks as if you’ve been offered sensitivity sessions to deal with your lack of compassion for individuals different from yourself. Our recommendation? Sign up immediately. Please. The sooner the better.

Linda Atwell lives in Silverton, Oregon—a quaint Willamette Valley community known for its fourteen hand-painted murals on the buildings around town. She’s a wife, and the mother of two incredible kids who fall on opposite ends of the spectrum: Lindsey Jane (thirty-four and special needs) and Michael (thirty-one and typical). Raising children is hard work. Raising a child with special needs is even harder. Her partner and greatest supporter on this challenging journey has been her husband, John. His humor made the tough moments more bearable.

Her work has appeared in The Oregonian, Sweeney’s, Perceptions Literary Magazine Of The Arts, Women’s Memoirs and The Mighty. She received an Honorable Mention in the Willamette Writers Kay Snow Writing Contest and was the first place winner in The E. Riney Memorial Award contest. Her winning story was published in The Storyteller Magazine.

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Comments

Mocking a person’s disability or any other aspect of their being is not a decision to be purposefully politically incorrect. That sort of mockery is cruelty. Mr. Trump, who doesn’t seem to care about anyone other than himself, will not get my vote either. Way to preach it Lindsey. Thanks for adding this post to DifferentDream.com’s Tuesday special needs link share.

Thanks Jolene. It certainly doesn’t seem, at least to me, that Trump does care. I so appreciate you reading and leaving a note. And thanks so much for checking out Breaking The Parenting Mold. Isn’t this new site great???